Important This Week

• New churches on the "Ministry Opportunities" list, looking for new pastors
• Register for Annual Meeting, Clergy Convocation, Advanced Boundary Training, worship-leading workshop
• Rev. Traci Blackmon in PSEC this week

From the Associate Conference Minister for Search & Call:

“When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” - Luke 9:51

When I was a kid, from ages two to twelve, I lived in the country of Indonesia because my father worked in the oil industry. We had a woman working for my parents called Amat and as faithful Muslim she would take breaks throughout the day to pray. She would prostrate herself, and then stand back up again and repeat the prayer a few more times. I eventually learned that the direction she was praying towards was Mecca, the holiest city in Islam, something that the prophet Muhammad told Muslims to do. She literally orientated her face towards a city, but it was an act off faithfulness, of remembering what really mattered in this life, and what mattered for her was being faithful to her God. 

Surely that act of faith is also what is meant by Luke 9:51 when it says that Jesus set his face towards Jerusalem. Jerusalem is just a city, though surely an important one, where the Second Great Temple resides and where all the drama of Holy Week will take place, including Jesus’ own painful death. When Jesus sets his face towards Jerusalem, he is not just doing what the Jewish people of his time had been commanded by God to do, which was to worship at the Temple during the High Holy Days. Instead, Jesus is living out his deep faithfulness to God and to the will of God that he knows awaits him in that great city. In this Lenten season, may we set our own faces to our own “Jerusalems,” towards faithfulness to God, and to what God asked as of us as disciples of Jesus. 

Rev. Kevin McLemore

Associate Conference Minister for Search and Call

Registration open for Spring Meeting in West Chester

Registration is now open for the Annual Meeting, June 2-3 in West Chester. The theme will be "May They All Be One: Unleashing the Spirit". With the future of the church being anything but status quo, we find ourselves in a wilderness experience struggling to navigate the harsh realities and uncertainties of what lies ahead. We invite you to open to the Spirit’s leading as we explore together the life-giving seeds of possibilities within the wilderness experience, and re-imagine what it means to be the Body of Christ in this place and time. That reimagining includes building partnerships between local churches who share resources (including pastors), merge ministries, and connect with community partners. Representatives from congregations around our conference will share how this has been life giving for them and how they overcame longtime resistance to making it happen. Similarly, representatives of the Keystone Study Group will share their conversations about creating partnerships between and among our four PA Conference that may lead to a four Conference merger. Visit psec.org/annual-meeting-2023 for more information.

Phoebe Berks looking for kneeling benches for chapel

If your church is looking to sell or get rid of one or two keeling benches, please contact Rev. Leah Knox (lknox@phoebe.org).

From the Addiction & Recovery Taskforce: Words to ponder

"The revelation from the Cross and the Twelve Steps, however, believes that sin and failure are, in fact, the setting and opportunity for transformation and enlightenment of the offender-and then the future will take of itself."

Richard Rohr, Breathing Under Water, p31.

PA Academy of Ministry classes announced

Convenient, affordable, online learning from the Pennsylvania Academy of Ministry at Lancaster Seminary. Upcoming courses include Church History 1 and 2, and Biblical Interpretation 1 and 2. For more information click here.

PATHWAYS Theological Education classes coming

PATHWAYS exists to offer a range of stimulating, accessible, and affordable online progressive Christian resources for church leaders, faith explorers, pastors, and those discerning various vocations and callings within and outside the church community. Six-week courses starting March 1 and May 17 have been announced. Click here for information.

PA security grants for

nonprofit organizations

The PA Commission on Crime and Delinquency has opened the solicitation for the FY22-23 Spring 2023 Nonprofit Security Grant Fund Program, which is a grant program (awards range from $5,000 to $150,000; match is required for awards over $25,001) for nonprofit organizations who principally serve individuals, groups or institutions that are included within a bias motivation category for single bias hate crime incidents as identified by the FBI’s Hate Crime Statistics publication. Applicants are eligible for security enhancements designed to protect the safety and security of the users of a facility located in PA that is owned or operated by the nonprofit organization. The period to submit a request for funding ends March 2. Go to their website for information about the initial request process and to submit your request (via SurveyMonkey).  

Penn Central Conference ONA Ministry Team hosting event

The PCC ONA Ministry Team Winter Gathering will focus on "Embracing the Beloved LGBTQ+ Community: The Role of the Church". The event will be March 4 starting at 9:30a. For more information, click here to view a flyer.

Rev. Traci Blackmon preaching at Salt & Light this weekend

Church yearend

reporting is now open

Earlier this month, emails were sent to church offices and pastors with information on year-end reporting. If you should have received that information and didn’t, please contact the Conference Registrar, Brea Rarick, at brea@psec.org or 484-949-8774 ext. 311. Also, you may visit psec.org/reporting for more information on this year’s reporting.

Rev. Nathaniel Mahlberg installation at Valley Forge

Click the invitation below to download a PDF to share.

Register for 2023

PA Clergy Convocation

The Pennsylvania Clergy Convocation is scheduled for May 2-4 in Lancaster. Our time together for Clergy Convocation will focus on connection – connecting with God, self and others. We will have times dedicated for worship, theological reflection, gatherings of affinity groups, connecting with folks from other Conferences, and free time. Our teaching focus on clergy wellness will take shape in four 90-minute sessions, each dedicated to one of the components of wellness every pastor needs: spiritual wellness, vocational wellness, financial wellness, and physical wellness. Pension Boards staff and outside facilitators will provide attendee with thoughtful and relevant content for those engaged in local church ministry. Click here for more information and to register.

Sunday Supply pastors needed

Are you a retired pastor? A chaplain, counselor, or professor with Sunday mornings available? Please consider adding your name to the PSEC Sunday Supply list. This list is for churches and pastors to use to find Authorized Ministers and Members in Discernment to use for short-term situations (vacations, family leave, sabbaticals, etc.). If you're interested, click here for more information and the Sunday Supply profile form.

Online Youth Book Discussion starting

Rev. Ernest Glover, Youth Coordinator at House of Faith (UCC) in Philadelphia, and Rev. Anne Cormier are calling on young “Holy troublemakers and unconventional saints-in-the-making” to join them in a weekly Sunday evening (7-8 pm) Zoom conference for an open discussion on a few Holy Troublemakers. The discussion will start on the first Sunday of March and continue for eight weeks, except Easter. Both Mr. Glover and Rev. Cormier want young people (middle and high school age) to bring their honest opinions, thoughts, and ideas to the table. Mr. Glover says, “Let’s find inspiration in these pages to: do the right thing, even when it’s the hard thing, stand up for those who are standing alone; work together for the common good; and have courage when the odds are against us. The future is yours to shape. Let’s learn to be brave, cause a little trouble when necessary, and love with our whole hearts like the saints who have gone before us.” Click here for more information and to register.

Lay Leaders Convocation planned for April 15

Local church leaders are invited to a Lay Leaders Convocation, a full day of worship, address, workshops, and fellowship on Saturday, April 15 in Pottstown. Save the date, registration will be available by March 1. Click here for a flyer with more info.

Registration open for Advanced Boundary Training

On April 26, an Advanced Boundary Training will be held on the topic of The Limits of Pastoral Care, facilitated by Revs. Bill Worley and Kevin McLemore. This training will explore the practical and spiritual limits for providing pastoral care within congregations. Topics that will be included are the emotional and spiritual toll of overfuctioning in a pastoral capacity, as well as practical guidance on such challenges as power of attorney documents, convicted sex offenders within the church, and other recent contemporary issues. Click here for more information and to register.

'Foundations of Worship Planning' for lay, clergy

“Foundations of Worship Planning” prepares lay leaders and refreshes authorized ministers on the foundational principles of worship with an emphasis on practical application. Participants will gain tools and sharpen skills for planning meaningful worship that facilitates holy encounters. No previous experience with worship planning is necessary.

Participants should bring a recent bulletin or order of service from their context as well as a Bible and music selection resources (i.e. hymnal and/or songbook). Click here for more information.

Enneagram workshop scheduled in Lancaster

There are still tickets available for Parish Resource Center’s March 24-25 conference, The Path Between Us: The Enneagram and Healthy Relationships with Suzanne Stabile.

“Few people can teach you the Enneagram with the genuine insight, humor, and potential for real growth and change better than Suzanne Stabile!” — RICHARD ROHR

PRC is hosting Stabile in Lancaster for The Path Between Us Conference, an event that will guide participants into more profound insights about the self, God, and others with the goal of experiencing healthier, more life-giving relationships. The weekend will be particularly focused on the building blocks of community, exploring how each Enneagram type behaves and interacts relationally.

This event is a wonderful opportunity for leadership teams and congregants to attend together and bring new insights back to the larger church body.

Click here for more information and to purchase tickets.

Pension Boards hosting retirement planning seminar

If you are an actively-contributing Pension Boards member, 45 years of age or older, join the Pension Boards for a two-day Planning for the Transition to Retirement seminar on March 29-30.

During the two-day event, the presentation will address landmark issues along the journey to retirement and how we can best prepare, the two largest financial sources for most of our members: Social Security and the UCC Annuity Plan, how our investment choices should be informed by our lives and future goals, and review additional benefits to help smooth our path. Register here by March 28.

Climate Justice Team offering Green Grants for 2023

Would your church like some seed money to kick-start a new season of climate-saving activities? The Climate Justice team of PSEC invites applications for grants of up to $250, to be matched by the churches themselves. Please apply by April 1 at psec.org/green.

• Could you use $100 for seeds and soil for your community garden? 
• $100 to buy the books on climate activism and theology you’ve been meaning for your study group to read? 
• $200 toward the $400 needed to replace every light bulb? 
• $250 to add to your $250 for a $500 jump-start on replacing a drafty window? 
• $250 toward the $500 for food, books and activities for your environmental summer outdoor school for the neighborhood? 
• A couple of hundred in sight so you can go to an individual donor and ask them to match it?

Questions: Marian Shearer (uccrev77@gmail.com), Liz Brunton (lizbrunton2462@gmail.com).